New BlackJack 26 owner

[fit]

Well I am new to RC boats and after doing some research I purchased a BJ26 and just brought it home yesterday. I was able to get some battery charged and I took it to the local lake for a quick run. It was fun and even my kids enjoyed driving it with my help since they are only 6 and 4.

So I have a few questions first I have been reading about all the steering upgrades that people have done to make the boat more stable, is it worth it or should I just run a stock boat?

Next while running the boat I noticed that after a while it would cut out when giving it throttle but if I backed off it would seam to go again, I was guessing that the batteries were just getting low and that is what it does to let you know. Am I correct?

Also are there any immediate modifications or upgrades I should do that will help the boat? i am guessing first I will get some tape to secure the top just incase it does flip over

Thanks for your help

[crazzy maxx]

the fullers cat hardwear works the best.

[cruiser]

mods

Here are a few ideas:

* Buy some hatch tape (your local sporting goods store should have some clear hockey tape)

* Buy a sharpened and balanced octura x632 prop

* Move your ant. to the back of the boat and seal the hole in the stock hatch (I will take some pics later on and explain how we did this)

* Personally I moved the batts forward a few inches... again I will show some pics... on the stock setup it seems that just moving them forward a few inches helps, but with the fuller's hardware I have no experience (yet...lol....:)

* That brings me to my next point and that is across the board the fellas really seem to like the fuller's hardware.

* I have never had any problems running the two 7 cell NIMH 4500 batts with the stock esc.... just recently switched to 2 4s 25c lipos and will complete the first lipo run today. You will need the $20 programmer if you switch to lipos and if you run the 4s batts you need to make some wiring changes (if you do this just pm me and I can explain it).

There are a ton more upgrades and if you look around you will see some pics of some bj26's that are absolutely awesome... so far though even with running the stock hardware I am impressed...it all depends on how fast you want to make it...

Hope this helps....

[dendrobate]

Personally if your just gonna go have fun at the pond , then no need to spend the money on the fullers or others hardware.If you plan on racing then go for it and get the best hardware out there.All other tweeks mentioned I found improved the performance greatly with out spending lots of money.I would recommend the esc programmer as my BJ had messed up programming out of the box and cut off all the time, reprogrammed the esc and its been perfect.I would upgrade the radio , I use a react and the telemetry features are great , voltage ,temperature and low battery warning has been very helpful.
Good Luck.

[RCprince]

Cruiser you meant a sharpened and balanced x642 prop...not a x632

[Wakesurfer]

Welcome Fit! The Blackjack is a lot of fun, but its a bit much for the kids to drive. My 5 year old races cars with me, but I won't let him drive the BJ yet. I picked up a couple of ZigZag3 boats for him and his 4 year old sister to drive. Might want to check those out for the kids. I'll be doing a lot of the mods I've found here to my BlackJack soon, but if you get the programming card, drop in some healthy LiPos you'll have a blast. I'd suggest a radio upgrade to. Spektrum/DSM really seemed to smooth out the throttle response for me.

[MAXAMUS]

hi all can you just drop in a futaba 2.4ghz rx and use this if so what about the position of the antenna as it needs to be at 90o angle any ideas